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Post date: Apr 16, 2016 4:32:16 AM
The first time I saw the look was during the anchor leg of the varsity 4x100-meter relay.
A Plainfield South runner pulled even with the Minooka anchor, and then the look developed. The crowd saw it too, and let out a cheer over the thrill of the fight.
With determination, Minooka fought off the challenge, pulled away, and won.
Call it a hungry look. Call it a confident look. Call it the eye of the tiger. Whatever you call it, it was contagious Friday night amongst the girls at the Minooka Invitational. The Indians used the look to take home victories in the 9-team meet on both the varsity and JV levels.
The second time I saw the look was in the varsity 4x200-meter relay — this time, twice. The third runner, hungry to close a gap, did so before handing the baton to the same anchor. Challenged for the second time that night, the anchor exploded off the final curve with the look. She won.
After that, the look seemed to appear regularly. The JV 300 hurdles. The JV and varsity 1600-meter runs. The JV and varsity 200-meter dashes.
In the JV 4x400-meter relay, Minooka runners went face to face with the competition many times during the race before finally taking and keeping the lead in the final 100 meters.
The varsity 4x400-meter relay didn’t win. But if looks could kill, they would have. All four runners ran tough, but seemed to be coming from behind the entire race.
Trailing two teams, the second runner pushed to close gaps. Her legs may have been a bit weary after already running two 800s that night, but her eyes showed otherwise. She was hanging tough, staying hungry. She ran great and still handed off in third.
Now with the look in her eye, the third leg went after the lead. Again, she ran great — a PR — but the other teams did, too, and she also handed off in third.
Finally the anchor. She was down about 30 meters. Her eyes were on the leader.
She passed the second-place team on the backstretch. With just Plainfield South ahead of her, she stalked her prey in the night. She closed the gap, but ran out of real estate. Her eyes showed fire the entire way.
I’m sure I missed many more looks during the night. In addition to those mentioned above, we had some other tremendous performances: two state-qualifying marks in the high jump; meet records in the JV 3200-meter run, varsity 3200-meter run, varsity 800-meter run, JV 1600-meter run, varsity 1600-meter run, and JV pole vault (tie). There were also numerous PRs for the Indians throughout the night. Certainly the look of determination played a role in those performances.
They say attitudes are contagious. Looks are too. Friday night the Indians used them to rise up to the challenge of their rivals.
Go Indians.
— Coach Thomas
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